Tag: adlai stevenson
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Feeling Badly About Adlai

Adlai Stevenson was one of the most admired losing candidates of all time. Here’s my hot take: He was a lousy candidate, and he encouraged the Democrats’ worst tendencies.
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Luce Likes Ike, No Time for Kefauver

Henry Luce, the publisher of Time and Life magazines, was a huge supporter of Dwight Eisenhower. No wonder his magazine was so snotty about Kefauver!
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Porcine Populism: The Presidential Campaigns of Henry Krajewski

Kefauver wasn’t the only 1950s presidential hopeful who came up short. There was also Krajewski, the New Jersey pig farmer and bar owner, whose views were a little… different.
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Estes Kefauver: Not an Organization Man

Kefauver was a principled politician, which cause stumbling blocks for his ambitions. In particular, his refusal to build a political organization made his campaigns harder than they had to be… and may have been hazardous to his health.
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Who Is Joe Smith? A Campaign Mystery

How a publicity stunt from a crabby delegate turned a fictional person into a real campaign meme… for the other side.
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“A Serious and Difficult Situation”: The Integration of Clinton High

After Brown v. Board of Education, the first Southern school to integrate was in Estes Kefauver’s native Tennessee. In a difficult situation, Kefauver had the courage to stand up against segregationist violence and for rebuilding and the rule of law.
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Stevenson Toons In for ’56?

Eisenhower’s 1952 relied on the sales of Madison Avenue -and Disney – to roll to victory. After resisting those techniques the first time around, the Stevenson/Kefauver campaign gave them a try in ’56. How did it turn out? Judge for yourself.
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If You Go Chasing Rabbits: Solving a Photographic Mystery

Follow me as I track down the story behind a magazine photograph. I try to figure out not only where Kefauver was… but when and why
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Kefauver and LBJ: Two Paths to Power

Estes Kefauver and Lyndon Johnson had a number of things in common: two liberal-leaning, ambitious Southern Democrats who joined the Senate in the same year. But their approach to politics – and the pursuit of power – couldn’t have been more different.
